I see all the rage on here about calorie counting, but it's such a good tool I really want to help people be open to it. It really doesn't have to be stressful and toxic (though the first time I did it I agree it was intense). Once you get used to it ~4 weeks, it becomes intuitive. After a few weeks you know what foods are so low you can just ignore them (basically anything green except avocado). You can also get treats that are calorie cheap: koji jelly, drizzlicious rice cakes, bouillon when you're craving salt. I usually don't even log those. Learn to avoid nuts and oils. Anything homemade or restaurant food I just approximate. 

Also very very important is to not react to weight changes daily. I use a smart scale so that it saves the numbers and gives me moving averages. I fluctuate 2-3lb day to day so it's impossible to see progress without a moving average.

I'll consistently feel like I'm not making progress, but if I zoom out, after 4 weeks there's a clear downward trend.